This week's Lowdown: Apple's new game delivers

Apple’s first iPhone game in over ten years

Apple has released its first iPhone game in over ten years. Care to guess what it might be?

If your answer is “a first-person newspaper delivery game starring American multi-billionare Warren Buffett”, then well done. Apple CEO Tim Cook jokingly suggested that this would be a good idea for a game recently, and now Warren Buffett’s Paper Wizard is a reality. And it’s actually a lot of fun. Think of it as a first-person, touchscreen swiping version of the classic Paperboy game. You’ll earn ‘Warren Bucks’ if your delivery skills are up to scratch, but will you earn enough to dethrone the Paper Wizard himself? Why not download it for free and see for yourself?

You can now retweet with GIFs, photos and vids

On Monday, the Twitter design team made a special announcement: “Today we are introducing an update you’ve been waiting for — drum roll please — Retweet with GIF, photos, and video!”

Before now, you could only add text to your retweets. So, if you’re a hardcore Tweeter, this new feature should make a real difference to your Twitter game. It’s already landed on Twitter’s mobile site for both Android and iOS, but it doesn’t appear to be on the desktop version just yet.

All you need do is tap the retweet button, then “retweet with comment.” To add your GIF, photo or video, simply tap the relevant icon above the keyboard. The first time you do this, you’ll see a message from Twitter highlighting the fact that this is an all-new feature. So, what are you waiting for?

Android Auto is getting a summer refresh

Android Auto is about to get a serious makeover, with major improvements and a whole new look unveiled by Google at its annual developer conference on Monday.

The in-car mobile platform has been designed to help you keep more of your attention on the road, with a new navigation bar that gets things done with fewer taps. All the most common actions, like making phone calls and skipping songs, will now be quicker and easier. And when you start the car, Android Auto will now automatically launch your favourite navigation app and resume media playback – so you’ll always be able to start from where you left off.

Android Auto will have a different look too, with a dark theme that won’t dazzle as much when you’re driving in the dark. Looking forward to seeing all this in action for yourself? Google has told us to expect the update “later this summer”.

AirPods could be your next fitness coach

A neat new fitness feature could be winging its way to Airpods. Apple has filed a patent for something it’s calling ‘Pose Detection’ - meaning that it’s popular earbuds will be able to detect movement and also work out the position you’re standing/sitting/lying in.

What would this actually be used for? Well, imagine getting real-time coaching feedback when you’re in need of some extra motivation. If you’re not doing a particular exercise quite right, or if you’re not running as fast as usual, a little voice in your Airpods could tell you to sort yourself out and try harder. Should be fun, right?